All In Elusive coach Charissa Barham heaped kudos on her promising goal shoot Imke Kitchin after last night's upset win against defending champions Outkast Optimise Physio in the Hawke's Bay Premier Club Netball League.
"For a 16-year-old to shoot 84 per cent [41 from 49] when being marked by one of the best defenders in the comp in Amanda Palmer I couldn't have asked for anything more from Imke," Barham said after her unbeaten team's 42-36 Super 8 Round Two victory in Taradale's Pettigrew-Green Arena.
Kitchin needed a top performance as All In Elusive goal attack Kia Diamond played the entire game with a suspected broken finger collected in an indoor netball fixture earlier in the day. Wing defence Deanna Muir was another to shine in a consistent team effort from Barham's troops.
"We've worked hard on our team culture this season because I believe it's culture that drives performance and consistency comes from a good team culture," Barham said.
"In tight 60 minutes games like this you have to build and grind it out and we did that," she added.
Her team trailed 19-18 at halftime but won the third quarter by three and were ahead by two going into the final quarter. Outkast player-coach Jeda Bartlett said she was happy with the improvement displayed by her troops considering they were playing without a couple of regular first string attacking circle players.